"We don’t care about the fact that maybe we’ll have some returns from Germany if this will help, in order to give the signal to the smugglers," he told the Financial Times newspaper.
Over a million migrants travelled on to Germany after arriving in Europe at the height of the 2015 migrant crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel initially opened the borders but promised to tighten controls after widespread domestic condemnation.
READ MORE: Merkel: Migrants Can't Choose Where to Apply for Asylum
The chancellor, who is under pressure from Interior Minister Horst Seehofer of the ruling Conservatives’ Bavarian sister party CSU, will meet with other EU leaders on Thursday to try to clinch a deal on sharing out migrants among the union’s member states.